Large Size External HDD repeatedly ejects and connects by itself

Large Size External HDD repeatedly ejects and connects by itself

I have been using external HDDs with computers for many years. I have 500GB, 1TB and 2TB ones (WD, Seagate, Samsung, Transcend etc) and all work perfectly.

Recently, I purchased a 4TB drive (Transcend). This one has a strange problem. It worked fine for a couple of weeks when I started filling it with data and is now 90% full.

But now when I connect it, it automatically ejects itself and then re-connects. This happens with annoying frequency, almost every 5 minutes. Thus the drive is practically unusable.

I am using a brand new HP Envy Laptop with Windows 10. All my other drives work perfectly on it except the 4TB one. Moreover, this 4TB drive has been tested on other laptops and seems to work perfectly on other computers.

What could be the problem?? I am thinking about 4TB incompatibility with my HP laptop. But this seems a far fetched supposition. Thank you for help.

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I have a WDC 2TB and a WDC 4TB connected to my main computer. I do notice that the USB ports are important, use USB 3 with those drives even though they can be compatible with USB 2. The 4TB came from the factory formatted as exFAT instead of the NTFS the 2TB is formatted as. The Power Options settings for the ports can be a factor. It can be checked in Device Manager and USB as to whether a machines has USB 2 and/or USB 3, USB 2 will have an entry or 2 that mentions USB 2 Enhanced. The USB 3 will mention that and probably have Extensible in the entries. The USB 3 ports themselves will have a blue center piece and the USB 2 will be black.

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... when I connect it, it automatically ejects itself and then re-connects. This happens with annoying frequency, almost every 5 minutes. Thus the drive is practically unusable...

I have a drive like that. If I swap the data cable with another drive the problem follows the data cable. In my case the connection at the drive end of the cable appears to be a little bit of a loose fit. The drive only stay reliably mounted if I'm very careful not to touch the cable or move the drive while I'm using it.

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1) The Drive is 3.0, the cable is 3.0, and the laptop port is 3.0.
2) The drive has been checked with different cables giving same result.
3) The drive, the cable, the computer, and the table are perfectly stationary, no movement of any kind or cable touching.
4) The drive works perfectly on another older laptop on Windows 7 with a USB 2.0 port.

Thanks for any tips or insight into the problem.

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Basically what you are describing is failure to deliver enough power to keep the device operational , like Bree and Berton suggested that can be either the result of a defected cable or port , but if you rule out both cases we are down to a peculiar case where your PC USB ports are not capable of giving enough voltage/ampere power to the device , this could be the result of :
1 - Bad chipset drivers (try updating them or using your manufacturer's originals)
2 - Fluctuating house current (Bare in mind in summer current fluctuate severely due to more usage of Air Conditioners around your neighborhood where you might need to plug your device to a "stabilizer" - an electrical device to sustain electric current gain - and see if it helps)
3 - Failing USB controllers (you cant do much about that really)

There is 1 solution fits all to all these up , getting an adapter powered USB 3.0 HUB where by that you shift powering the device to the HUB than rather your PC though i suggest you select one that comes bundled with an adapter as you risk frying your hard drive with trials with adapters with different amperes / volts with models that come without ones .

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I am indebted for your kind and helpful replies. Mostly I have concluded that the issue is power related emanating from the usb port.
Just to update you, this issue (also like my previous posted issue) seems to have resolved by itself. Maybe my laptop problematic as its USB ports seem to behave erratically at times (not delivering enough power causing such malfunctions as this one). I am which I am considering to change this piece of junk (its a brand new laptop and seemed to be a great one initially, HP Envy 17" core i7 7th Gen 8GB RAM).

Once again, thanks to all you great folks who contributed to my issue resolution. This forum is really great and helpful.

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